Alex, first off
let's start with a www.racksandrazors.com visual
and why don't you describe the
room where you are answering
these questions?
Brown
carpet, overloaded bookcase,
about 11 x 11 feet. Fetus in a
jar of formaldehyde next to my
computer. Walk-in closet. Not too
interesting, just a typical home
office.
So first
off I want to hear about your
role as Adam in your first movie
Fred Rosenberg's 'Slaughter
Party' (2005). How
did that opportunity come about?
I
used to study at a studio where
we had an instructor from the
same hometown as the filmmaker.
He had helped him on a project
before and was looking for other
actors to work on the next.
What was
your overriding memory of that
experience?
The
film where the crazy killer (Ford
Austin) cuts me open lengthwise.
I was lying face up on the ground
as the sun was going down in
December, so it must have been
about 49 degrees with wind chill.
Then I had a variety of animal
parts and fake blood all
quite moist displayed on
my stomach while the scene was
shot. It was painfully cold and
seemed to last about 1 hour or
so. Either that or when Ron
Jeremy smashes my head against
Gerard Marzillis Three
Stooges style.
Were you a
bit intimidated - you work with
some big horror names in that
movie -- Brinke Stevens, Felissa
Rose, Lloyd Kaufman, Ron Jeremy,
etc?
Just a
little bit. The shoot went by
quickly and there wasnt
much time to feel intimidated. It
was definitely interesting to
meet Ron Jeremy, though.
I gotta
hear about that then. What was
interesting about meeting him?
Ron
Jeremy was pretty down to
earth. He's funny, witty and
actually a tiny bit of a joker. I
was really surprised because I
was expecting a totally different
personality.
As someone just sort of fresh
into the movie business what has
been the best advice any of your
fellow performers have ever given
you about life in front of the
camera?
A
good friend and successful
working actor who also happens to
be an instructor was talking to
me very recently. Im doing
a show right now and the workload
is horrendous and I mentioned
that I have been feeling burned
out an uninspired as of late. He
said I better fix my attitude and
quick because if one cant
feel inspired, then one must
leave the industry immediately.
He said the entire industry is a
fabrication, a commercial, a
buzzword, and a 15-minute
celebrity. The overnight
successes took 20 years to
happen, the most important movies
will probably never get made and
even the palm trees out here come
from somewhere else. The only
reward that we can count on
receiving is the work itself,
because nobody else may ever take
notice. A little bit grim, but
sobering.
You also
recently wrapped principle
photography of 'Evil
Ever After' from Brad
Paulson with a lot of the same
performers (Brinke, Felissa,
Lloyd, Ron, Rebekah
Brandes). Tell me a little
bit about the movie and your
role?
I
play an amoral stoner who gets
strangled with somebody
elses intestines by a
katana-wielding transvestite
wearing a pink feather boa. I
honestly think that whole bit has
been done to death by Hollywood.
This past
year you were a busy boy.
You also starred (as Eddie) and
produced 'Three Paces to
the Closet Door'
(2005). Tell me a little
bit about that project?
Its
a 7 and a half-minute short film.
I had told so many people that I
was going to make my own movie,
so I figured it was time to
follow through. Ive
definitely learned to make less
expensive proclamations in the
future. A quote from Nietzsche is
displayed over the opening.
There is an old illusion.
It is called Good and Evil.
It explores that idea briefly. It
was well received at the Santa
Clarita Film Festival, so that
made me happy.
What's the
toughest part about being a
producer?
Producing
and acting at the same time. It
was prohibitively difficult to
work a scene while worrying about
the dollars and ordering lunch.
We had an added difficulty also.
We had an actor in his 50s
who has RSD, its a
degeneration of the nervous
system somewhat similar to Lou
Gerings disease. He said
that his in extreme pain 24/7,
that feels like hes being
eaten alive by millions of small
piranhas. I think its
similar to the disease the guy
had in Poes The Fall of the
House of Usher because his senses
are so elevated that a friendly
smack on the shoulder feels like
getting hit with a 2x4. So when
we were shooting, he was having a
harder time than usual and I was
sweating bullets because we had
shot half of the project and
where never going to be able to
use our location again if he
couldnt pull himself
together and finish. In the end
it worked out, but those were 3
nerve-wracking days.
I also
want to hear a little something
about the movie you are currently
filming 'The Adventures
of Buster Smith'.
Its
about a pseudo-futuristic LA
where Buster Smith is a hero
fighting some corrupt future
government.
Shawn, do
you have anything else you would
like to plug, promote, or inform
the www.racksandrazors.com readers
about?
My
website: www.AlexLuria.com.
Ill be sure to keep it
updated with whatever Im up
to at the moment.
So as
someone new to the movie
business do you have any goals
for the medium & about
what you would like to achieve
with your film work?
Id
definitely like to see the film
medium buck convention a little
bit more. Its more of an
industry imposed thing, but
movies these days tend to be too
formulaic and I find that I
really enjoy movies that explore
character a little more, even if
it doesnt directly further
the plot of the film itself. Of
the movies I saw in 2005, Munich
and a History of Violence tend to
come to my head as films that did
that.
Time for
some fun. We are pulling
the car into the Alex
Luria Drive In --- What
three horror flicks are going to
be playing on the triple bill and
what goodies are they going to be
serving up at the concession
stand?
They
are going to play Pet Cemetery,
Childs Play and The Gate.
Those are the three films that
scared me the most growing up.
After watching those when I was
about 5 or 6 I had trouble
sleeping for weeks. They are
serving New York style pizza
you know with the sweet
sauce and crispy basil leaves. I
just got back from a trip to NYC
and thats my latest craze.
Too bad its hard to get
good pizza in LA.
What turns
you into a psycho in real life?
Not
much. Im pretty laid back.
Flaky Hollywood types, high
maintenance and/or
passive-aggressive people tend to
make life more complicated than
it needs to be.
What
scares you in real life?
Crazy
women. |